Archibald comley vivian



Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES ARCHIBALD COMLEY VIVIAN, OF BARNES, LONDON, ENGLAND.

FLOTATION PROCESS FOR CONCENTRATING ORES AND THE LIKE.

' No Drawing.

To all 10h am it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARCHIBALD COMLEY VIVIAN, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at 32 Castleton Mansions, Riverview Gardens, Barnes,

London, S. W., England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Flotation Processes for Concentrating Ores and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the separation of the more valuable constituents of ores, concentrates, metallurgical products and like heterogeneous materials from the less valuable components thereof by methods involving flotation and more particularly froth flotation.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved process of treating ores, concentrates, metallurgical products and the like in which the more valuable metals which it is desired to separate are in the form of oxygen-containing compounds.

The invention consists broadly in the addition to the material (if necessary after any suitable modification such as that here inafter described) of organic compounds which are generally considered weakly acid but are amphoteric or display aci-pseudo forms, contain nitrogen and oxygen and act chemically upon the metal or metal compound it is desired to separate forming tarry or resinous complexes or decomposition products which facilitate the separation of the metal or metal compounds by flotation, when used alone or in conjunction with known oiling or frothing agents.

In some cases the material may need to be modified by the addition of reagents adapted to promote interaction between the weakly acid body and the metal or metal compounds inv the material treated andtending, for in stance, to bring such metal into solution so that a precipitate may be formed by the action of the organic compound.

The organic compounds adapted to form tarry or resinous complexes or decomposition products, may be formed in the presence of the ore or other heterogeneous material or they may be prepared previously and added to the ore or other heterogeneous material.

In other Words, the reacting materials adapted to form the said organic compounds may be added to the ore or the like, or they may be brought together in the absence of the ore or the like so as to form the desired Application filed January 12, 1923. Serial No. 612,316.

bodies which are, when formed, employed in treating the ore or the like.

As would be expected, the organic bodies adapted for use in accordance with the invention, possess, generally speaking, a relatively high molecular weight for the reason that as a general rule organic compounds of relatively high molecular Weight are more prone to yield tarry or resinous complexes or decomposition products than are bodies of lower molecular weight and as a rule cyclic compounds and certain unsaturated chain compounds are more inclined to yield such complexes than are saturated chain compounds.

For the purpose of indicating more clearly the character of the bodies which are capable of use in accordance with the invention,

it may be stated that oximes, iso-nitroso bodies and amido acids are suitable.

As an example of a suitable amido acid, taurocholic acid may be mentioned, and as examples of other suitable bodies, cupferron (i. e. the ammonium salt of nitroso phenyl hydroxylamine phenyl glyoxime) and dinitroso resorcinol may be given.

The organic compounds may be such that they spontaneously give rise to the formation of tarry or resinous complexes or decomposition products by interaction with constituents of the ore, as for instance, oxides, cassiterite, for example, without so far as can be ascertained the intervention of free oxygen. On the other hand, they may be such that oxygen clearly promotes the formation of such complexes or decomposition products, in which case an oxidation agent may be employed. the oxygen of the air used in frothing being in some instances suflicient.

t may be found desirable with certain organic bodies to use reagents other than oxygen for promoting the formation of tarry or resinous complexes, but it would appear preferable in practice to use such bodies as need at most atmospheric oxygen or the constituents of the ore or the like to effect their conversion.

The organic bodies may be formed by reactions between ketones or aldehydes and hydroxylamine or nitrous oxide and under the oxidizing conditions of the flotation process I may also use either ketones or aldehydes (also substances which by virtue of a labile hydrogen atom are known to behave to hydroxylamine or nitrous oxide as ketones and aldehydes) together with ammonia.

' amounts of The following particulars are given by way of example to illustrate suitable methods of carrying the invention into effect:

Emample 1.

An oxidized ore of tin such as that of the fiat lode in Cornwall, is crushed to a fine pulp with very soft water (such as that ohtainable in Cornwall) or with distilled water, in which is dissolved the sodium salt of phenyl glyoxime in a proportion equivalent to one-tenth of a pound or more of phenyl glyoxime per ton of dry ore, the salt in question being added as such or formed by the addition to the pulp of equivalent henyl glyoxime and sodium hydroxide. t is advisable to crush the ore in the least possible amount of water so that the concentration of the phenyl glyoxime may be as high as possible and it is also advisable to avoid contamination with iron which is possible with steel tube milling. The tin oxide mineral will be found to have been prepared by this treatment so that subsequent treatment in a flotation process,

. using phenolic or wood tar frothers or a mixture of the two, will be effective in bringing substantially all the tin mineral into the froth and leaving substantially all the gangue minerals behind.

As indicating the character of the results obtainable it may be mentioned that when phenyl glyoxime sodium salt was employed in the proportion of lb. per. ton of ore in an otherwise neutral or only very slightly alkaline circuit and cresol or a mixture of beech tar oil and cresol was used for frothing to the amount of 3 lbs. per ton of the ore, the tin assay was as follows Ore 1.86 per cent. Concentrate 7.40 per cent. Tailings .22 per cent.

As 22.83 tons of concentrate were obtained from 100 tons of ore treated, the efficiency of the extraction was almost 91%.

Ewample 2.

A sweet roasted flotation concentrate is washed several times with soft water by decantation or similar methods (the settlement of the slime being no difficulty on account of the fiocculated state existing owing to soluble salts remaining in small traces even after repeated washings). Soft water to the amount of about four or five times the weight of the concentrate is added and, with or without preliminary gravity concentration of the pulp so prepared to eliminate the coarsest particles of tin oxide, the sodium salt of dinitroso resorcinol to the amount of one-tenth of a pound or more per ton of concentrate is added and the pulp is stirred. Phenolic and wood tar frothers will then be found to function satisfactorily in raising the tin oxide into the'froths The following tin assays indicate the char acter of the results obtained:

Concentrate 9 per cent. Rough pannings together with flotation concentrate 27 per cent.

Tailingsoftreated concentrate 3.9 per cent.

The tailings contained no tin oxide slime nor free coarse tin oxide but only heavy middlings, needing recrushing, and as 22 tons of rough pannings and flotation concentrate were obtained from 100 tons of raw concentrate the efficiency of the recovery without recrushing of middlings was about 66 per cent.

Emamp Z6 3.

A vanadium mineral is treated as indicated in the above examples, cupferron being substituted for the sodium salt of phenyl glyoxime and phenolic and wood tar frothers. being employed to bring the vanadium minerals substantially into the froth.

Example 4.

Taurocholic acid as its sodium salt or the mixed amldo acids of animal gall are addedin a convenient proportion to a crushed to effect the desired separation owing to their affinity for calcium carbonate.

It is to be understood that no claim is made herein to the frothing agents, the employment of which is referred to, and it is further desired to point out that organic acids properly so called and picric acid have been proposed to be used in flotation processes.

In the appended claims the organic compounds used will be described as ampheteric, this expression being employed as including bodies displaying aci-pseudo forms and as used in the claims the expression resinous decomposition products includes tarry or resinous complexes or decomposition products.

Having now described my invention, what 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In the treatment of heterogenous materials containing the relatively more val.- uable metals as oxygen-containing compounds, for the purpose of separating the more valuable constituents from. the less valuable components thereof by methods involving flotation, the improvement Which comprises the addition to the material of organic compounds of the class hereinabove described, such compounds being amphoteric compounds contain nitrogen and oxygen and capable of acting chemically upon the constituent it is desired to separate, forming resinous decomposition products which facilitate separation of the metal-bearing constituent by flotation, and thereafter subjecting the so treated material to froth flotation.

2. The process for the separation of the more valuable constituents of ores, concentrates, metallurgical products and like heterogeneous materials as claimed in claim 1, in which the organic bodies adapted to form resinous decomposition products are formed in the presence of the heterogeneous material.

3. A form of execution of the process as covered in claim 1, in which air flotation is resorted to, the oxygen of the air acting to promote the formation of the resinous decomposition products.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ARCHIBALD COMLEY VIVIAN. 

